Ray Allen is leaning toward returning for a 19th season in the NBA and has a desire to continue playing alongside LeBron James, sources told Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Back in February, the sharpshooting veteran said that he wouldn’t be retiring this summer, and today’s report echoes a similar sentiment passed along last week. Allen just completed the second of a two-year, $6.32MM deal with the Heat and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
As for Dwyane Wade‘s contract status and whether or not he’ll decide to opt out, the 32-year-old guard didn’t have any updates today. “No news here yet.”
You can find more of tonight’s rumblings out of the Eastern Conference below:
- Pistons president/head coach Stan Van Gundy said that he’s open to signing Greg Monroe to a one-year qualifying offer and letting the big man hit unrestricted free agency next summer, according to Larry Lage of the Associated Press. Van Gundy said that Monroe’s contract situation is the “most important thing on (the Pistons’) plate this offseason.”
- Van Gundy added that the team would be willing to trade a future second-round pick and cash in order to land a late first round pick, especially if someone they ranked in the teens falls to the end of the first round.
- Jim Boeheim – Carmelo Anthony‘s former college coach at Syracuse – believes that Anthony would take less money to sign with a contender this summer, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago.
- Chauncey Billups is considering retirement, writes Aaron Matas of 9News.com. When Matas mentioned rumors of the Timberwolves approaching the 37-year-old guard about an assistant coaching job, Billups declined comment; however, Billups did say that he’d generally consider a television or front office position first before dipping into coaching when he does decide to retire from playing.
- The Celtics hired Benas Matkevicius – a former scout of CSKA Moscow – to be the team’s international scout, tweets Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe (h/t to CSKABasket.com).